


The Case of Disappearing Urchins

by annathecrow



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: Gen, History as Horror, Industrial Revolution, POV Second Person, Storylet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annathecrow/pseuds/annathecrow
Summary: The urchins have been disappearing.(You unlocked this with: Renown: Urchins 6 (you needed 5))
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	1. Disappearing urchins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LookingForDroids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForDroids/gifts).



The little ragamuffins approach you warily. "See there guv, they says you a snifferpipe..." With some guesswork and a good bit of mime you discover the problem: a worrying number of their lot has disappeared in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, they can't give you many pointers: no screams were heard, no signs of struggle or bodies were left behind. Truly, a confounding matter.

> Take up the case.  
You have a soft spot for the little sneaks, after all. If nothing else, it promises to be a diversion.

> Refuse them.  
Shoo! You have better ways to while away your time.


	2. A gloomy spider-silk mill

The severe, angular building sits on the riverbank like a sorrow spider itself. The water rushing in its millrace brings up in you half-forgotten nightmares of drowning. The workers come early and leave late, their faces ashen. Careful asking around nets you hushed tales of endless toil and gruesome injuries - mangled limbs, torn-off fingers, endless deaths. Finally, you sneak in to search for your quarry. The noise! The clack and clang of machinery deafens you. You cannot possibly find one child among the scores that dash around the factory floor. Instead, you barely escape discovery by the grim Devil foreman.


	3. The littlest apprentice

A bottle of Greyfields lighter, you finally face the former urchin. But what is this? The child refuses to leave with you! The reason seems to be an apprentice contract, signed with the owners of the factory. Come now, something like that can't matter to one of these cheeky little sods, surely? Alas, given the Devilish nature of the employers, the consequences of breaking the contract would be, ah, spiritually damaging. One has only a single soul, after all. The little apprentice assures you that truly, things are not so bad for them. They're fed, clothed, and die only sometimes...

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this will be to your liking! I didn't manage to fit in a lot of the supernatural Fallen London elements, but tried to lean into the atmospheric horror and death-is-not-final weirdness. Also, you can count on the industrial history to be horrifying...


End file.
